


prologue

by noyabeans (snowdrops)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Author's Favorite, Canon Compliant, Canon Timeline, Creative License, Friendship, Gen, Gen Work, Headcanon, Interlude, M/M, Relationship Study, Shippy Gen, Snippets, Very mildly shippy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-04
Updated: 2016-12-04
Packaged: 2018-09-06 11:49:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8749615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowdrops/pseuds/noyabeans
Summary: ennoshita and nishinoya, from first year to third





	

**first year**

 

**i**

 

they meet on the first day of club.

there are seven of them first-years:

  
tanaka, who is loud and confident; his voice bounces off the clubroom walls.

kinoshita, with the sandy hair, who rubs his neck when he confesses he’s never played volleyball before.

narita, with an awkward smile and strong grip, as nishinoya finds out when they shake hands.

katanuma, who seems twice as tall as nishinoya is.

tagaki, who has character keychains hanging off his bag.

ennoshita, with the droopy, sharp eyes and a small, quiet grin.

  
they’re going to get along fine, nishinoya thinks.

 

**ii**

 

nishinoya’s never been a fan of calling his friends by their last name, and the first years quickly graduate from “tanaka, ennoshita, kinoshita, katanuma, tagaki, narita” to “ryuu, chikara, hisashi, kenji, ichimaru, kazu”.

 

**iii**

 

chikara: wing spiker  
hisashi: wing spiker  
ichimaru: middle blocker  
kazu: middle blocker  
kenji: setter  
ryuu: wing spiker  
nishinoya: libero

  
with seven of them in the perfect number of positions for a team, nishinoya entertains the thought of them being a team, all by themselves. but then ichimaru, hisashi, kenji, chikara and kazu don’t show up for a week and it’s just down to him and ryuu, walking home alone after training.

ryuu kicks a stone as they walk out of the gym together. nishinoya’s body aches all over. there are new bruises on the verge of blossoming, especially on his elbows, which are already black and blue all over anyway. adding some more doesn’t quite make much more difference.

“i don’t get it,” ryuu scowls. “why aren’t they here?”

nishinoya takes his time answering. he asked chikara the same when they bumped into each other in the school hallway. chikara’s explanation was a soft “we’re taking a break”, but nishinoya doubts the truth of that statement. it seems more like they want to leave the club, which is probably because training under coach ukai is tough, much tougher than what they’d expected.

but nishinoya has seen earnestness in chikara’s gaze. he hasn’t known chikara for long, but he can tell - chikara isn't the kind who will simply abandon ship like this. and if chikara comes back, the others will, too. this is a fact of life he’s come to understand.

“wherever they are,” he says, “they’ll come back.”

he only hopes it’s true. nonetheless, he goes to each of their classes during lunch break the next day.

“we’ll see,” is chikara’s only answer. it’s better than nothing.

 

**iv**

 

coach ukai collapses during practice the day before chikara, kazu and hisashi come back. kenji and ichimaru don’t. nishinoya lets them be. he doesn’t want to hold them back where they don’t want to be.

but without coach ukai, the team finds themselves stranded, like a clutch of chicks abandoned before they’ve reached maturity. daichi and suga and asahi and the third-years who are still around try their best to help. they learn as they go, they do the best they can. they don’t make it far at inter-high, but it’s enough that they tried, their captain says.

nishinoya clenches his teeth. it’s not enough to just try, when he knows they can do it.

 

**v**

 

the iron wall shuts them out, but nishinoya finds he doesn’t feel half as disheartened by their loss as he feels betrayed when asahi turns away. anger clouds his vision, and he hears his voice tremble in the hallway. only distantly does he register the sound of shattering glass.

chikara calls him late one night. he’s at home, arms still stinging from another afternoon of practice with hana-san at the neighbourhood gym.

“come back,” chikara says, his words like an echo of nishinoya’s not so long ago.

nishinoya can’t help the dry bark of laughter that is wrenched from his throat. “i was suspended, chikara. i can’t go back even if i want to.”

  


* * *

 

 **** **second year**

 

**i**

 

shouyou reminds nishinoya of many things.

he reminds nishinoya of elementary school-nishinoya, wide-eyed and excitable, always in awe of the players he watched, always fighting to be seen in the vastness of the court.

the only difference is: shouyou watches the skies and learns to fly, and nishinoya is destined to guard the earth.

 

**ii**

 

they are walking home after practice, the five of them. it’s familiar. it’s been a year since they met, and the first time in two months that it’s all of them together, between final exams and suspension.

nishinoya falls in step with chikara, trailing slightly behind the other three.

“it’s good to be back,” nishinoya says in between bites of his meat bun.

chikara nods and takes a swig from his drink. “it’s good to have you back.”

 

**iii**

 

they fall at the hands of seijou, and nishinoya feels the sour taste of defeat in his mouth. chikara comes up and gives him a slap on the back, a gesture that reminds nishinoya of daichi.

“it’s not over yet, nishinoya.”

there is resolution in his words.

 

**iv**

 

it’s just the two of them at chikara’s house today. kazu, ryuu and hisashi all ditched the study session today citing one excuse or another, but nishinoya really needs to pass classic literature so that he can go to tokyo for training camp. luckily for him, chikara doesn’t mind. not much, anyway.

nevertheless, two hours of staring at his notes and textbook still gnaw away at his attention span, so here goes:

“hey, chikara.”

“hm.”

“chi - ka - ra.”

“hmm?” chikara’s still frowning down at his exercise, his reply half-hearted.

 _time for plan b_ , nishinoya decides.

“captain!” he calls, and chikara freezes, before jerking his head up to glare at him.

“i’m not captain,” chikara retorts grumpily.

“not yet, you mean,” nishinoya says. chikara’s looking back down at his paper, but his pen isn’t moving. “i’m just preparing myself for next year.”

chikara’s definitely sulking now, and nishinoya decides it’s not a look he likes to see on the other. it isn’t difficult to guess the reason for the expression - nishinoya’s always known that chikara still berates himself as a coward for running away during first year - as if he’ll run away again in future, which is nothing short of bullshit in nishinoya's own humble opinion.

“you know, chikara,” he deigns to say after some prolonged silence in which both of them are unmoving. “you’re not the only one who ran away.”

chikara doesn’t move or say anything, and nishinoya doesn’t look at him. “i wanted to turn my back on the team, which is pretty much the same as running away, isn’t it? i had a duty, and i didn’t want to fulfill it.”

nishinoya swallows hard, tries to fumble for the right words, because chikara doesn’t - shouldn’t be beating himself up over this, not when nishinoya knows chikara is anything but a coward. “i know you won’t run away from us, chikara. you didn’t, and you won’t.”

a pause. “all of us know you won’t.”

“what if i don’t think the same?” chikara’s voice is hesitant.

nishinoya feels the smile spread across his face. “if you were going to run from us, chikara, you wouldn’t be sitting here with me right now.”

chikara doesn’t say anything to that, but there isn’t any need for him to. nishinoya finds his answer in the determined line chikara’s mouth makes.

 

**v**

 

nishinoya prides himself on being the kind of person who doesn’t show weakness if he can help it. it’s nothing personal, really, but maybe this loss especially amplifies that feeling, because he can’t quite feel like he has as much right to cry as he probably does, because: the third years do not have next year. the first years do not have last year.

for him, for them, the second years, the ones caught in the middle, perhaps it is not their place to cry. hisashi and kazu shed a few tears, and ryuu full out cries with asahi and daichi and suga, but nishinoya can’t find it in himself to cry.

chikara, he notices, is starkly missing.

he finds chikara in the locker room, sitting on the changing bench, just like hisashi and kazu said he would. and when he sees chikara, some part of nishinoya understands why they insisted that he be the one to come find chikara, because apparently chikara has as misplaced a sense of pride as nishinoya does, if the way he’s burying his face into his jersey is anything to go by.

nishinoya feels the back of his eyes burn at the sight, like he’s intruding on an intimate moment, that should be reserved only for chikara himself, but he sits down on the bench too. it is there, his back against chikara’s, both of them facing a row of sinks and mirrors, that he allows himself the tears he’s been denying all day.

“next time,” chikara chokes out, “next year, we’ll win.”

despite himself, nishinoya feels pride swell in his chest at the way chikara’s words catch in his throat. his own voice cracks when he speaks, broken but firm, unyielding. “we’ll follow you, chikara.”

 

* * *

 

**third year**

 

**i**

 

chikara shrugs on the mantle that daichi hands to him with no small amount of apprehension, but right at that moment, nishinoya feels something like a shudder of awe sweep over him, as though he is witnessing the coronation of a new king.

memory resurfaces, of two boys crying silently in an empty locker room, and nishinoya grins wide at chikara.

 _i’ll follow you anywhere_.

 

* * *

 

**fin**

**Author's Note:**

> I told myself that I would stop writing gen for a while, but this self-indulgent story sprouted out of nowhere today. The second years need much more love than they get. This was also my first time attempting to write Ennoshita, so feedback would be much appreciated. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! A kudos or a comment would be great.
> 
> Scream with me about the second years here:  
> [tumblr (rielity)](https://rielity.tumblr.com/) | [twitter (noyabeans)](https://twitter.com/noyabeans)


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